Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress Will Be About More Than Bashing Biden

Photo credit: Douliery Olivier/ABACA via Reuters Connect.

Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to address a joint session of the United States Congress on June 13. But that day, while an ordinary day in Israel, was the second day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot in the United States and the rest of the Diaspora. Jews in the Diaspora traditionally celebrate the beginning and […]

The Only Path to Peace is Prosperity, Not Hamas

Photo credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on July 24 at what promises to be an historic and controversial moment. Netanyahu’s speech allows him to “share the Israeli government’s vision to defend its democracy, combat terrorism and establish a just and lasting peace in the region,” said House Speaker Mike […]

America-Israel Disagreement over Gaza at a Critical Junction

US President Joe Biden meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, October 2023. Photo credit: Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS.

Rarely in the American special relationship with Israel has there been such a dramatic display of discord between leaders. What began as a remarkable show of American support and solidarity with Israel, in the wake of Hamas’s assault in October, came by February and March to be increasingly marred by acrimony. The White House statement […]

In the Name of God, Go

Prime Minister Netanyahu during security cabinet meeting, October 9, 2023. Photo credit: Screenshot from GPO video, (c) 2023 Thomson Reuters

It was late in the day on Tuesday May 7, 1940, when Leo Amery, a middle-aged former minister and Conservative Party backbencher, rose in his seat to address the House of Common in the aftermath of Britain’s disastrous Norway campaign. His party leader, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, had offered a weak defense of the Norway […]

Israel’s Agenda with China

China's President Xi Jinping and Israel's Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu in Beijing, China, May 2013. Photo credit: REUTERS / Kim Kyung-Hoon

On June 27, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a visiting American congressional group that he plans to visit Beijing later this year, adding that the US administration had been informed of this intention. No date has been set nor has the Chinese government confirmed an invitation to Netanyahu.  >>  Insight from Israel: Read more from Eran […]

Israel’s Divided Government, the Palestinians, and the US

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, May 14, 2023. Photo credit: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS

The November 2022 elections in Israel gave the present coalition a clear majority of 64 out of 120 members of the Knesset. The coalition intended to produce a government with a firm rightwing ideological orientation. At long last, Likud party loyalists cheered, we don’t need to compromise with centrist or left-leaning partners.  >>  Insight from […]

Israeli Sovereignty and American Intervention

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Israel show support for US President Biden, for not inviting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House, March 30, 2023. Photo credit: REUTERS

The streets are seething. Police have clashed with demonstrators and there have been not only arrests but some violence. Hundreds of thousands and likely millions have protested proposed government actions. Unions have called for nationwide strikes. Government reactions have elicited even more fierce opposition. Israel? No, France. Most recently, protests have intensified when the government completely […]

Security Challenges Facing the New Israeli Government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo credit: Reuters

The State of Israel is not required by law to adopt a national security strategy. But the need for such a document has been often raised, and several efforts have been made to write one. In October 1953, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion presented a long disquisition on Israel’s security needs to the Cabinet, which he […]

Not Much Left

A "Meretz" party election campaign banner is seen in the northern Israeli-Arab city of Nazaret, Israel. Photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israeli election results of the past 30 years illustrate the dramatic decline of Israel’s formerly ruling left. In the 1992 elections, under the leadership of the late Yitzhak Rabin, the Labor Party won 44 seats (out of 120) in the Knesset, and his Meretz partner (led by its late leader, the sharp and acerbic Yossi […]